SR71, while sympathising with the captain's desire to brighten his wife and son's day I believe he was wrong to put you in that position. He was allowing emotion to cloud is sound judgement. What would I have done? What 90% of FOs would do, acquiesce in quiet annoyance.
Those of us who have been FOs all have memories of being put in difficult positions by captains who should really know better.
Your refer to superior judgment of captains being allowed to decide on flight deck access in flight. Playing devil's advocate for a moment. A week or two after September 11th I flew with one of our Muslim FOs. I knew him from previous trips and to all intents and purposes he was (and still is as far as I know) a sound pilot and colleague. The conversation inevitably turned to the attacks in NY and he firmly declared that America 'got what it deserved'. I felt the best course of action was to rapidly change the subject. Now fast forward to today and say that I am flying with that same FO. He then tells me his brother is travelling with him and would like him to sit on the FD. I am afraid my superior judgement would have difficulty with that one.
UK and US airlines are prime targets for Islamic terrorists, far more so than any other country's airlines for reasons that are obvious. For that reason alone we are stuck with very strict rules regarding FD access whatever we would like to see.
Pablo Mason decided he knew better. His employers begged to differ. He who pays the piper calls the tune. Quite simple really.
Last edited by M.Mouse; 18th Mar 2009 at 22:50.